Improvement in millstone-drivers



"P. H. OHILDRESS.

Mills-tone Driver.

No. 207,014.. Patented Aug. 13,1s7s..

Z q 3 r UNITED STATES PAT N T OFFICE.

PATRICK II. CHILDRESS, OF WAYNESBOROUGH, VIRGINIA, ASSIGNOR OF ()NE-IIALF HIS RIGHT TO HUGH L. GALLAHER, OF SAME PLACE.

IMPROVEMENT IN MlLLSTONE-DRIVERS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 207,014, dated August 13, 1873; application filed March 28, 1878.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, PATRICK II. CHrLDnEss, of Waynesborough, in the county of Augusta and State of Virginia, have invented a new and Improved Millstone-Driver; and I do hereby declare the following is a full,clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawing, forming part of this specification, in which Figure 1 is a side view of the spindle with the drivin g devices in longitudinal section. Fig. 2 is a similar view with the driving devices in transverse section. Fig. 3 is a plan view of the driving devices with the top plate removed, the relation of the parts to the mill stone being indicated by dotted lines.

My invention relates to an improved selfadjusting and equalizing millstone-driver, designed principally to cause the driver to bear equally at both ends upon the runner, so as to cause the same to be driven in balance and without wabbling.

It sometimes happens, from various causes, that the millstone-driver bears upon the-runner at one end only, and this causes the runner to wabble. Among the efiorts to prevent this is to construct the driver in the form of two levers, pivoted upon opposite sides of the spindle, and to connect the inner ends of said levers with the spindle by a forked coupling embracing the spindle.

My improvement consist-s, first, in arranging about the spindle, and between the spindle and the forks of the jointed driver, aring or collar, which affords a bearing for the inner ends or forks of the driver-sections, and, by allowing said inner ends to swivel about the same, secures an equal and more direct movement between the sections of the driver, 01). viates lost motion, and yet does not require the forks to touch the spindle.

My improvement consists, secondly, in pivoting the sections of the driver upon the same bolts which secure the cap or cover of the casing, as hereinafter more fully described.

In the drawing, A represents a mill-spindle having a seat, a, a squared portion, 11, and a point, 0, upon which latter rests the eoekeye of the balancerynd which supports the runner. B is a cup, which rests upon the seat a of the spindle, and which has in its bottom a square perforation, which fits the squared portion of the spindle, and causes said cup to retate rigidly with the spindle. O G are the levers which constitute the driver, the same bein g pivoted upon the vertical bolts d, which socure the cap I) of the cup. The outer extremities of these two levers constitute the bearin points of the driver, and enter recesses in the runner or balance-rynd to impart motion to said runner. The inner ends of these levers are inclosed in the cup by the cap-piece, and are coupledfor the compensating movenientin apeculiar manner. Each inner end of said levers is formed in the shape of a fork, the branch e of one lever upon one side overlapping a corresponding branch, 0, of the other lever upon the same side, while upon the opposite side the branch of the first lever is overlapped by the branch f of the other lever. These forks are of circular outline, to fit in the case formed by the cup and its cover, and in the center leave a circular space, in which is arranged aloose ring, E, through which the spindle proj eets. This embrace of the ring by the forks constitutes a peculiar coupling for the inner ends of the levers, which, it will be seen, causes the movement of the outer ends of the levers in the same direction, or the general movement of the levers upon their pivots to be in reverse direction, the levers having at all times only alimited motion, such as is permitted by the loose connection of the forks.

Now, in describing the operation of the device, it will be seen, referring to Fig. 3, that when the runner is revolving in the direction of the arrow the faces 9 g at the extremity of the jointed driver are the points which bear against and actuate the stone. Now if, from any cause,

one end ofthedriver g,for instance, should not bear against the stone, then, if the driver be rigid andinflexible, the runner would simplybe driven bythe face g, and the stone, being actuated upon one side of its center, wouldbe thrown out of balance. I

With my arrangement of jointed and flexible driver, it will be seen that, if the driver bears only at g, the driver will bend in the center by the swiveling of the forks about the ring E, and the opposite lever will be deflected upon its pivot-bolt in the reverse direction, and its outer end, y, will be advanced, as shown in dotted lines, so that it will be in bearing contact with the runner, and cause the latter to be driven upon both sides of its center and by both ends of the driver, thus keepingthe stone in balance.

Having thus described in y invention, whatI claim as new is 1. The loose ring E, located about the spindle and Within the forks of the pivoted driver-sections, and combined with the same, substantially as shown and described.

2. The bolts (Z combined with the case, the cover for the same, and the driver-sections, as shown and described, so as to secure the said cover, and at the same time form pivots for said driver-sections.

PATRICK H. CHILDRESS.

Witnesses H. D. KOINER, J. S. MYERs. 

